Harrison Owen has died
Harrison, one of the last times I saw him.
I’m on holiday in Portugal about to start a six-day walking trip in the Algarve and I’ve just learned that Harrison Owen died yesterday. His son Barry posted a brief notice on Facebook today.
I had a lovely talk with him a couple of weeks ago before I left on this trip. We talked about some things he was reading (he recommended a new edition of “Order out of Chaos: Man’s New Dialogue with Nature” by Ilya Prigogine and Isabell Stengers) and we talked a bit about family and time of life. He asked me for a good story and I told about some work I’m doing with universities and labour unions around culture change and he just riffed off of those, expressing his usual astonishment that no one quite seems ready to adopt the simplicity of Open Space. It was, literally, the message he preached until his dying day.
Harrison was an important mentor in my life, and it’s fair to say that without his ideas in the world and later his friendship and mentorship, I wouldn’t have been on the path I was on, doing what I am doing. In a post I wrote a few weeks ago, I summed up what he meant to me thus:
Harrison is an incredible guy, a deep river of experience and knowledge. His folksy manner and his constant exhortations to simplify one’s facilitation practice don’t come close to giving the full breadth of his life’s work its due. He is a priest, a theologian, a scholar of Near East religion, myth and culture, a former bureaucrat, community organizer, consultant, teacher, and author, and his whole life has only partially been about Open Space. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t describe himself as a shaman but he was an important mentor in my life. He was the first person to introduce me to complexity theory, to spirit in organizations and to the dynamics of self-organization which transformed my facilitation practice.
So many of us in the Open Space world feel this way about him. I’m sitting today with a reflection on his life in my heart, and I will walk with him in mind this next week across the cliff tops and headlands of southern Portugal, peering out and across the wide Atlantic that he loved so much.
RIP, fella. The space is open.
So sorry for your loss Chris, I never met him but was just reading something about him the other day.
He was right up your alley, Euan. No nonsense, right to the point, and in favour of stripping everything to its core so we could just be more human together.
Indeed. Thx Chris. Glad to have this OST way of being in me. From Harrison. From you and others in the OST world.
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That was an emoji that didn’t show up. Hands together for Harrison.
Chris, like you, Harrison was a foundational influence in my work and more importantly, the way I show up in the world. He made complexity practical. Gave it language that gave me a glimpse of how its patterns shape everything.
I often hear Harrison’s reminder not to work so hard in my mind’s eye. When I do, it’s a signal to step back, seek the essence of my intention and look for a simpler way to move towards it. It is one of his many gifts.
I expect those gifts will continue to show up in the days to come. And I fully expect to be talking with him for the rest of my days.
The conversations with Ann, Brian and Harrison will live with me for the rest of my life.
Harrison came to Serbia in 2002 (I think the date is right) and ran an OST for us in the Grand Hotel, Valjevo, on “What kind of Western Serbia would you love to live in in 2008”. It was amazing to see how the space opened – it was such a powerful experience for so many. The reason I am replying here, though, is that your comment about slowing down reminded me of what Harrison said to me as I was racing around making sure all the arrangements were in place. “Does she have an off switch?” he asked my staff. I am so grateful for his luminous presence. I got to sit with him on the steps of the hotel once the OST was underway, and I could feel the energy flowing back and forth. Then I understood why he meditated for a few hours in the OST space before it opened. What a glorious man.
Love the off switch comment. So Harrison. Glorious indeed. Thank you for your story.
Thank you for sharing Chris, and may he be prepared to be surprised whatever happens? I only met Harrison a few times, but his words of advise to me being a much younger OS practitioner eager to do more than I actually needed to still follows me: Jan, just sit on your hands!
Thank you, Chris,
For this sad update. A few years ago I joined Glenda Eoyang and others in a Global Open Space and Harrison visit part of our gathering!
I know I will continue to honor him in my practice as I comfort clients anxious about low turnout of community to invitations to learn that those who show up are the ones supposed to be there.
May He Rest in Peace.
That’s very sad news Chris. Open Space is such a genius form of interaction and we have a great deal to thank Harrison for. I learned Open Space with him in the UK in the 1990s and experienced him as a someone determined to let us discover OS for ourselves rather than just tell us how to do it.
That is a sad news. But thank you so much for sharing it. OST and Harisson Owen’s approach to facilitation not only changed my life (and you Chris contributed to it) but his posture to the practice also inhabits me every day as I walk my path, in a way that is deeper than rules/advices/approach but rather as a spirit with which I naturally chose to contribute to the dynamics I am involved in. It all lies in me as a practice of holding the space and contributing to the flow of energy by intervening the less I can (which is always less than the minimum I’m at ease with before I get to the moment!). For this and for all who have learned from him, Harrison’s contribution still lives and will keep on living with deep roots in many peoples lives. Peace.
That’s it. That’s what he always said to do. You got it Phillippe.
I was in circle in an Open Space event, Devoted and Disgruntled 19, with Improbable Theatre, when I heard this sad and shocking news. Incredibly poignant way to receive the news. I’ll do my best to carry his wonderful work and spirit forward.
My condolences to everybody who knew him. What a gift he has left us with. Paradoxically, he died on the day that about 150 of us were in Open Space together at our online gathering. Thank you Chris for this heartfelt sharing. ???
Even by passing away he is opening another space for us.
Damn genius.
He had it all figured out!
Thank Chris for this … and thank you Harrison. Love Tim
Very sorry to hear, Chris, and thank you for sharing.
Un abrazo.
Thanks for sharing this, Chris. I know your deep care and admiration for Harrison. The first time I met you, you said you tried to live your life as Open Space.! Your words, as always, shine a light on things I didn’t know before. Enjoy your hike and may you carry Harrison with you always!
Thanks for sharing, Chris. Such an amazing man who shared such an amazing gift. And thank you for being who you are, a wonderful gift to so many.
So blessed for having learned so much from you.
Thanks for this, Chris. What a beautiful legacy he created. I’ll always remember the idea of “do one less thing”, which I learned through you.
I just finished this podcast episode with him today. It was an excellent listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0dNBvaHYUFEIeJjzNAmVRI?si=v-eeftJoRA2KPVB1gGEwSw
Chris: Thanks so much for posting about this. A friend who is involved in OS, informed me of his passing just three days ago but I had not searched to see what might be posted. May the blessings of Spirit guide your path and my path going forward.
Regarding your walk: my Spirit Guide told me during a very scary descent down a mountainside in 1991 “If there is no hurry, there is no danger”. I’ve never forgotten it. Applies to driving automobiles, too. And, leading groups..
As many here know, my wife of 60 years, Joelle Lyons Everett, who died July 6, 2022, was, as one person wrote, “one of the rocks in the foundation of Open Space”. Owen was a great influence in her life. She loved him deeply, of that there is no doubt. She would be devastated if she were still here.
Hi Chris,
Thank you for this, the sad news of Harrison’s passing and the video interview with him at the end of January, probably one of the last.
I met him and Open Space, also with John Adama and Sabina Spencer, in OT6 in Sweden in 1988 and brought it as OT8 to Switzerland in 1990.
I’m at the moment convening a Gathering of leaders of Summits, Communities and Networks in Japan in September, with a view to interweaving the strands of our so many initiatives – with a vision of a wise holding of humanity in the face of the global trend to escalating militarization. This will be the 1st Summit of Summits Gathering, to be held in Open Space of course.
Should this speak to you please send me an email,
With best regards,
Peter
Thank you for sharing, Chris. I’ve never met him, but deeply bow to his work and to the people who worked with him.
How can we make it joyful and fulfilling to surrender control and meet the unknown — and let life emerge?
For me, that’s the social energy of being human together. I owe this to Harrison Owen.